john kennedy, ronald reagan, george w. bush, all bounced higher in the polls after credible debate performances and went on to win the white house. whatever the outcome, most agree it's the debates that will give us our best opportunity to evaluate these candidates, sort out their positions and separate truth from fiction. not a moment too soon. according to a new survey from the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania, with a little over nt mh to go before election day, the public has a lot to learn about the 2012 presidential race. among its findings, only 51% know the romney-ryan plan would preserve traditional medicare t thoose 55 and older fse noww yououngerer thahan asthatne no younger tn that. ouy olft abw khat thnea. aby t half knew that ab mitt romney would keep the bush tax cuts in place. fewer than half knew that romney and not obama had promised to increase defense spending. only 23% were aware that payroll taxes had decreased during obama's term in office. only slightly more than half